Estimated reading time: 2-3 minutes
There’s a moment while working on a story when it stops feeling like something you’re writing and more like you’re capturing something real. Something that’s happening. Another world, another reality, full of actual people and all of their messy emotions and unplanned occurrences. For Insurrection, that moment came somewhere in Act 2, and hasn’t let up since.
When the Story Takes Over
Zombie Girl Omega: Insurrection releases April 28th, and I’ll be honest—I didn’t know if I was up to the challenge to write it.
Building Toward This Moment
Books 1 and 2 gave me a lot of freedom and flexibility. Room to build the world, the characters, and the quiet tensions simmering beneath the surface of the ZGO world. Alluded to, but not focused on. Initiation asked who these soldiers were. Contention asked what makes a good team. Insurrection asks the question I’ve been circling from the very beginning: what happens when the threat you can’t name is the one closest to you?
Writing From the Inside Out
Part of why this book hit me harder than the others is that I write from a deeply empathetic place. I’m a bit of an empath. Okay. Heavy on the empathy. It’s awkward to admit, but the emotional states and development that my characters go through, I experience as well. Deeply. I enjoy their back-and-forth and camaraderie, living through the pain and loss each knows so personally.
There are betrayals in here that pained me to write—not cheap twists, but the kind that feel inevitable once you see them, like you should have known all along. And there are moments of loyalty and devotion that hit harder than any action sequence I’ve written. By now, you’ll know these soldiers, and I think you’ll feel it.
Clever Chi
This book developed my characters in unexpected ways. Omega’s team as a whole experiences many emotional challenges, but my greatest joy was Chi. Yes, all the characters experience varying degrees of growth, but the reserved and somewhat aloof Chi surprised me. Behind her disinterested, dry humor lies a very complex woman. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy her part of the story in Insurrection.
Meet Me in Sacramento
I’ll be at the Sacramento Book Festival on April 19th with early copies of book 3, a stack of bookmarks, and some fun stickers. Come find me. If you’ve been with this series from the start—or if you stumbled into it somewhere along the way—I’d love to meet you in person. Tell me about your favorite character.
For those of you who’ve been asking: Tau’s story isn’t over. That’s all I’ll say.
Insurrection Drops April 28
Preorder of the Kindle version of Insurrection is live now, and if you haven’t yet joined the Pluriverse, that’s the best way to get launch news, a free short story, and the occasional dispatch from whatever strange creative corner I’m currently living in.
Thank you, as always, for reading. Sharing these worlds with you makes this worth it.
~ Orysia
Listening to on Spotify: Empire of Our Own by Raign
Chain Reading: Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill, The Only One Left by Riley Sager, Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendship by Nina Totenberg, Lady of the Lake (The Witcher #5) by Andrzej Sapkowski
Writing Nook: Zombie Girl Omega: Insurrection (final manuscript), Children of Eden (first draft)
Latest Run: 28 miles (45K complete, baby!)